The Lobby Report, Spring 1994 Page: 2 of 4
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THE LOBBY REPORT
IMP The Newsletter of the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of TexasThe Texas Human Rights Founda-
tion has reported that the dismissal of
the Morales case is nevertheless a back-
handed victory forthe gay/lesbian com-
munity. AccordingtoTHRF,the Supreme
Court's refusal to rule on the merits of
the Morales case leaves in place as
good law an earlier Third Court of Ap-
peals case (City of Dallas v. England)
which ruled 21.06 unconstitutional. In
City of Dallas v. England, the plaintiff, a
lesbian, was denied employment as a
Dallas police officer because she was
considered a criminal due to 21.06. At
boththe Districtand Appellate courtlevel
in the England case, 21.06 was declared
unconstitutional. The effect of that rul-
ing is statewide.
Now, what does all this mean in
plain English? It means that if someone
...if someone
tries to use
21.06 to deny
employment,
housing,
custody, or
health care
funding, we
can sue and we
will most likely
win in Texas.
tries to use 21.06 to deny employment,
housing, custody, or health care fund-
ing, we can sue and we will most likely
win in Texas. 21.06 will remain in the
Penal Code but it will have a note indi-
cating that it was ruled unconstitutional
by the Third Court of Appeals in City of
Dallas v. England. In reality, it must be
noted that although we have the ability
to win a law suit against those who
attempt to use 21.06 against lesbian and
gay Texans, most of us are not wealthy
enough to pay the legal fees which are
necessary for each case. Therefore,LGRL will begin a statewide lobbying
campaign calling for complete removal
of 21.06 from the Penal Code. If you are
interest in helping with this statewide
lobby effort, please call LGRL at (512)
474-5475.
LETTER FROM:
THE
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
Dear LGRL Members,
I have been at LGRL for almost
three months now and it has proven to
be an exciting time to be a lesbian/gay
civil rights organizerin Texas. One ofthe
best parts of this job has been meeting
so many incredible people from across
the state who are concerned about the
rights of lesbian/gay/bisexual people.
Those who I have met have been ex-
tremely supportive. I look forward to
meeting and working with many more of
you in the upcoming year.
If you can believe it, the Texas
Legislative Session is less than one year
away. With that in mind, LGRL is begin-
ning ourstatewide organizing efforts. At
the Lobby, we will be introducing sev-
eral new programs which we believe
will help with our lobbying and organiz-
ing efforts. We will be asking for volun-
teersto get involved with these projects.
I hope to speak to groups across the
state about LGRL and its programs so I
can "round up" as people as possible to
getting involved with the Lobby.
Together we will make a differ-
ence in Texas.
Dianne Hardy-Garcia
Executive DirectorLGRL PROGRAMS
LGRLhasdeveloped fournewpro-
grams: two are specifically designed to
enhance ourstatewide lobbying efforts,
and two are educational programs run
out of the Allen G. Calkin Human Rights
Education and Research Fund which is
the Lobby's 501(c)(3)charitable arm.
RURAL OUTREACH PROJECT
This project will involve direct
outreach into rural towns and smaller
cities throughout Texas. The outreach
efforts are designed to enhance our re-
lationships with organizations which al-
ready exist in these areas sothatwe can
worktogether more effectively. The out-
reach project will attemptto involve ex-
isting organizers in a statewide net-
work. The project will also be available
to help with the formation of organiza-
tions to support lesbian/gay/bisexual
people living in rural areas and smaller
towns.
LEGISLATIVEMATCHING PROGRAM
The Legislative Matching Project
will attemptto match everystate legisla-
tor with an LGRL volunteer from their
individual districts.Thesevolunteerswill
track legislators and help organize our
lobbying efforts on a district level. This
will involve getting to know legislators,
gathering information on their views re-
garding lesbian/gay/bisexualissues,and
organizing district letter writing cam-
paigns.
WORKPLACEACTIVISM
The Calkin Fund has developed
an educational programto help lesbians
and gay men organize within theirwork-
places. This program is designed to
provide information to lesbian/gay em-
ployees on "how-to" organize to obtain
anti-discrimination policies, domestic
partner and family benefits, and em-
ployee networks.
continuedSPRING 1994
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The Lobby Report, Spring 1994, periodical, 1994; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc916821/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.